


Congratulations

by retribution



Category: Free!
Genre: First Kiss, Goodbyes, Love Confessions, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-03-01
Updated: 2015-03-01
Packaged: 2018-03-15 20:55:08
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,014
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3461687
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/retribution/pseuds/retribution
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Sera/Rei, confessions and firsts... and lasts.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Congratulations

**Author's Note:**

> For rarepairsweek, Sera/Rei, confessions and firsts. I had a comic planned for this, but I wasn’t feeling it, so here is the fic version of what happened.

Rei had not meant to say goodbye that day.  He was not even sure what made him stop by the field after physical conditioning; he supposed it must have been nostalgia for the sport that had been his life until two years ago.  Seeing the captain direct the other members in putting up various equipment lying around from other club practices, he rolled up his sweatshirt sleeves and decided to join in, just one last time.  As if nothing had changed from his first year.

This hadn’t changed either, he thought as Sera-senpai approached him with an appreciative smile.  He set the crate into the supply room and dusted off his hands, offering a polite greeting to the track team captain.

“It’s been a while, Rei, hasn’t it?” Sera asked him.  “I heard you have been doing well with the swim club.  That you might even become the captain next year?”

Flushed with pride, Rei nodded.  “It is a possibility,” he said.

“Of course, I would not expect anything less from you.  You worked very hard for them.”  His smile seemed a little sadder, the already placid green eyes looking more wistful.  “They worked hard for you.”

“Yes…”  Rei lowered his gaze to his clasped hands then glanced up when Sera took another step towards him.

“It makes me wish I had worked as hard as they did to keep you, Rei,” Sera told him, sincerely.

“But the track team has done exceptionally without me,” Rei insisted.  “With your leadership, they’ve made it to regionals in several events.  I don’t think I would have placed, at my level…”

Sera laughed at that earnest answer.  “You would have found some way to overcome any obstacle, I am sure of it.  And even if you didn’t… I liked having you on the team.”  Now so close, he put a hand on Rei’s shoulder, clasping it briefly yet firmly.  “I have been meaning to tell you that I’ve liked you for a long time, Rei.”

Unsure of what he was hearing, Rei made an inelegant squawking noise in the back of his throat.  “Sera-senpai?”

“I mean it.  I liked you, I still do.  I had no idea how much I would miss you when you switched to swim club.  I kept thinking that maybe you would not succeed, that you would return to track.  But you never gave up.  You never came back.”

“I did not realize…” Rei murmured, distressed and embarrassed and hardly able to focus with the pounding of his heart and the rushing in his ears, with the suddenly too intimate sensation of Sera’s large warm hands running down his triceps to his forearms to his wrists.

“No, no, it’s fine.”  Sera said this with his usual mild expression, but Rei knew him just enough to detect the slight tremor in his voice.  “I am going to university in a month.  I did not want to leave behind any regrets, that’s all.”  If anything, the tremor increased.

Meeting Sera’s gaze, Rei took a deep breath and curled his fingers around the captain’s own, interlacing them neatly.  He smiled to see Sera close his eyes and chuckle quietly.  Rei felt there might have been even more awkwardness with anyone else in this particular situation, but not with Sera-senpai.  Perhaps it was because of that time apart, but Rei thought maybe it was more like the ease of being with someone so similar to himself, the person he might have been had he followed in his brother’s illustrious wake.  There never was any expectation placed on him with Sera, just to stay his usual self, and while it did not turn out to be what he needed in the end, he had to be honest… he missed that.

So that was why he did not hesitate when Sera asked him, “Rei, would you let me kiss you before I go?”

“Yes, of course.  Umm…”  Rei’s face was surely on fire, but at least they were behind the supply room, away from any prying eyes.  Not exactly prepared for kissing a former captain, or anyone really, his hair messed up from the strong breeze, sweating slightly all over, his mouth probably still tasting of pickled radishes from lunch the previous period, Rei tried to apologize for his less-than-kissable state.  But Sera had already caught his chin with one gentle hand, was already kissing him tenderly on the lips.

Their glasses bumped, and with an apologetic laugh, Sera took off his glasses and tucked them in his pants pocket.  “Let me try that again?”

Rei nodded, finding himself entranced by those deep eyes, not shielded by lenses as they usually were.  He tilted his chin up, tried to find a comfortable place to rest his hands, before Sera pulled him close for a tight embrace and an even deeper kiss that stole Rei’s breath away as surely as if he had been running for hours.

In the end, Rei counted at least ten total kisses before he lost track and lost himself to making out with Sera.  When they finally pulled apart, Sera’s hair had achieved the same disheveled state as Rei’s, his lips bitten red and swollen, his eyes wide and smoldering dark with desire, and Rei could not believe he had not burst into flames already.  Mortified, he brought his hands up to his face and mumbled an apology through his fingers.

“Don’t be sorry.  I never deserved you in the first place.  Just… thank you for letting me, Rei.”  Leaning down, Sera kissed him lightly once on the forehead.  An older brother’s kiss now.  “Good luck.  I wish you the best.”

The moment he regained his composure, could assure himself that he would not fall to the ground from the gelatinous mess that became of his knees, Rei took another deep breath and said, “Thank you for everything.  Goodbye, Sera-senpai.”

“Goodbye, Rei.”

Without another word, Rei turned and walked away, as did Sera.  They stopped at the same time, he heard the pause in their footsteps on the gravel.  But Rei did not look back.


End file.
